No ECOWAS observers in Guinea for Sunday’s elections
Conakry, Guinea (PANA) – The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has told the Guinean government it will not send observers for the parliamentary and referendum elections due for Sunday, official sources told PANA.
The chairman of the ECOWAS Commission, Ivorian Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, a former minister and close associate of president Alassane Ouattara wrote to the Guinean minister of foreign affairs, Mamadi Touré, telling him that ‘’ECOWAS would be willing to send an observation mission for the elections if they are inclusive’’.
The letter of the ECOWAS Commission chairman, dated Thursday and obtained by PANA, said that the decision not to send observers was made in consultation with the heads of State and government of the sub-regional institution.
Several observers say therefore that the refusal of ECOWAS to deploy observers is ‘’a slight’’ for president Alpha Condé, who, according to them, insists in wanting to hold the elections against the will of the majority of Guineans.
Since the scheduling of the double elections, initially due for 1 March, then postponed at the request of ECOWAS and the African Union (AU), there are disagreements between the government and the opposition political parties who boycotted the elections.
In a declaration on Wednesday evening on the Guinean national television (RTG), the commander of the Special Union for the Securization of Elections (USSEL), General Ibrahima Baldé, warned that "all trouble makers" attempting to prevent citizens from going to vote peacefully on Sunday will be punished.
The acts of incivility and breach of public order, as well the breach to the right to vote for citizens will be sanctioned in accordance with the dispositions of the electoral code and the criminal code, he said.
He invited national police officers, the gendarmerie and the civil protection for the strict respect of the code of behavior of the security forces and human rights.
General Baldé also called for the spirit of civic duty from all citizens for the respect of the rules and regulations enabling a peaceful election, particularly the double parliamentary and referendum election, several times postponed for different reasons.
The warning of General Baldé come hours after the National Front for the Defence of the Constitution (FNDC) called for demonstrations on Saturday and Sunday all over the national territory to prevent the poll it considers as ‘’constitutional coup’’.
The minister of Territorial administration and Decentralization, General Bouréïma Condé, warned, in a televised address, without citing culprits, those among the political leaders who had invited the army to join the demonstrators.
The leader of the Union of Guinean democratic forces (UFDG), the main opposition party, former Prime Minister, Mamadou Cellou Dalein Diallo, recently invited the security forces to join the demonstrators who denounce the constitutional referendum, aiming, according to them, to enable president Alpha Condé to stand as candidate, beyond his second and last five-year term, due to end in October.
The different demonstrations called by FNDC which began in October claimed the lives of 42 persons in addition to several others wounded, according to the death toll established.
-0- PANA AC/BEH/MSA/VAO 20March2020
